Schils and Eddy Merckx

lost_in_thought

So, in a link with the other LBS post, I have found myself a new LBS!

Now, their site is pretty dreadful, but here is the link for the sort of index page, and here is the link for their shop which I can't seem to access from the main page!

Anyhoooo

They stock a good amount of decent kit, and are very friendly, nice people. However, the vast majority of their frames are made by a company called Schils which I have never heard of.

The fact that I have never heard of them should not be considered a barometer of their fame or quality, I know nothing, so I wondered what you good people thought?

They also have a small quantity of Eddy Merckx gear, some frames and other bits including... wait for it... podios! However the guy in the shop was rather scathing about them.

To give you a frame of reference, I'm currently looking at a viner build from Epic.

Any information welcomed!

greg66_tri_v2.0

lost_in_thought wrote:

They also have a small quantity of Eddy Merckx gear, some frames and other bits including... wait for it... podios! However the guy in the shop was rather scathing about them.

He is an ignoramus. Shun him.

But seriously.

There are two questions that immediately come to mind.
1. Does he base his so-called opinion on 15 years + of daily riding? If not, ignore everything further he says.
2. After he'd won five Tours, the Vuelta, the Giro and almost all the classics, what piece of bike kit did he design? If nothing, ignore him even more. In fact, picket his shop.

But seriously.

I didn't realise Interbike was still going. Way back when I think they were the distributor for EM stuff; I've certainly had some pedals & cleats from them. Then I thing they dropped EM stuff/were dropped by EM and they fell off the radar a bit. Interesting that now their online stuff is more focussed on the race team than the shop.

Schils. A bit of sneaky searching tells me that Patrick Schils, a former Belgium pro racer, owns Interbike. Try here: www.veloschils.com. I would guess that he rebadges generic frames. That's all fine, but you need to work out what the underlying frame is/who else badges it in order to get any useful reviews.

Personally, I think you're better off going down the Viner/Parlee/Crumpton/megabucks bikes route.

lost_in_thought

Huh, well there you go! The guy did say that they were the distributor, maintained that they dropped EM rather than the other way round, but he would say that!

His issue with the podios was that you need bespoke shoes (which I'm sure you've dismissed before) and that they are 'always upside-down'. I'll paint up the placards shortly.

Cool, well the Schils stuff isn't particularly cheap or pretty, so I'll stick with the other options given.

The crumpton site currently has an 80's walnut dash-look bike on it, which is putting me off a bit.

What's so good about Parlee/Crumpton?

greg66_tri_v2.0

lost_in_thought wrote:

I'll paint up the placards shortly.

That's mah gurl!

lost_in_thought wrote:

The crumpton site currently has an 80's walnut dash-look bike on it, which is putting me off a bit.

http://crumptoncycles.com/superlight_carbonframes.html 8) (BTW, those rims are the DB's too. They're on my list of "will haves").

lost_in_thought wrote:

What's so good about Parlee/Crumpton?

They're light. They're stiff. They're hand made. They're either custom or semi custom fitted. They look beautiful. Someone on a Colnago/Pinarello/Seven/Isaac/Cervelo/Look/BMC/[insert high end factory made frame maker's name here] who isn't fat, rich, and a sunny-Sundays-only cyclist will look at it and think (and probably say) "Nice Bike". *AND* Mosquito and Bespoke are pretty close to one another. How convenient is that?

Were I to ride my R3SL into a brick wall, and were Cervelo to go or have gone down the plughole and ebay wound up as a fraud, so that there were no more R3SLs to be had, these two would be top of my list of replacements.

It's a personal thing, obviously.

greg66_tri_v2.0

lost_in_thought wrote:

His issue with the podios was that you need bespoke shoes (which I'm sure you've dismissed before) and that they are 'always upside-down'. I'll paint up the placards shortly.

Yeah, well, the shoes thing is an issue. That requires attentiveness to ebay. But Look/Time/most A-shaped pedals rest upside down. I bet he rides either Speedplays or Eggbeaters. And I bet he still has to look down at them to clip in.

Pro, schmo. Mal-coordinated oaf. :twisted:

cjcp

lost_in_thought wrote:

What's so good about Parlee/Crumpton?

Parlees are the business. The absolute business. And mega bucks.

The Viner builds from Epic look very nice, and I've always had good experiences when I've dealt with Epic. (I was even tempted by their SS build last year, but don't tell G66 that. )

cjcp

Greg66 wrote:

http://crumptoncycles.com/superlight_carbonframes.html 8) (BTW, those rims are the DB's too. They're on my list of "will haves").

Saw these in the flesh last week. What a lovely pair of wheels these rims make. Build 'em right and they are apparently strong enough for 'cross racing.

If I see you commuting on those, I *will* mug you.

lost_in_thought

Whatever bike I end up getting, I sincerely doubt I will be commuting on it!

Well, not until I'm high enough up the food chain to command an office for my bike.

Are those wheels tubulars? They look like it... I have to say the Crumpton bikes just don't do it for me visually. The parlee ones are better, but I do object slightly to buying all-american things.

Nonetheless, I have dropped a line to Bespoke, and will do so to Mosquito too. They are both very conveniently situated.

And google has just deigned to show me that the Edge wheels are available as a tubular or a clincher...

But Look/Time/most A-shaped pedals rest upside down.

Which is why I'm liking the idea of the speedplays so much. Although man in shop (who, by the way, didn't look like he'd ever raced a bike in his life) maintained when I quizzed him on the speedplays that you still have to turn them in order to clip in. He recommended Looks as being better for that reason. At which point I became slightly cynical.

greg66_tri_v2.0

cjcp wrote:

Greg66 wrote:

http://crumptoncycles.com/superlight_carbonframes.html 8) (BTW, those rims are the DB's too. They're on my list of "will haves").

Saw these in the flesh last week. What a lovely pair of wheels these rims make. Build 'em right and they are apparently strong enough for 'cross racing.

If I see you commuting on those, I *will* mug you.

Well, I'll have to wear out or destroy one of my existing wheelsets first, *and get over the fact that had I bought the rims in the summer, they would have been 25% cheaper. But if that happens ... Dry day, good back, sun out ... yeah, I could see those as commuting wheels

LiT: you sure the guy you spoke to wasn't some punter off the street who liked to pretend he worked in a bike shop? :?

lost_in_thought

Greg66 wrote:

LiT: you sure the guy you spoke to wasn't some punter off the street who liked to pretend he worked in a bike shop? :?

That was the only completely idiotic piece of advice he gave me... and it was only him and me in there, so unless I work in a bike shop... :?

cjcp

LiT - with the Viners, do you have the option of speccing the wheels yourself? E.g. can you add handbuilts instead of factory builds?

skye3737

My pitiful efforts aboard my Giant GSR 700 touring (Vintage of 17 yrs and my only bike ) pale into insignificance as I gaze upon the beauty of the Crumpton.

Another entry added on to my wish list and something to dream about owning.

lost_in_thought

cjcp wrote:

LiT - with the Viners, do you have the option of speccing the wheels yourself? E.g. can you add handbuilts instead of factory builds?

I can have whatever the hell I want. This makes me happy

Why? A recommendation?

cjcp

lost_in_thought wrote:

cjcp wrote:

LiT - with the Viners, do you have the option of speccing the wheels yourself? E.g. can you add handbuilts instead of factory builds?

I can have whatever the hell I want. This makes me happy

Why? A recommendation?

LiT - you got PM.

lost_in_thought

cjcp wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

cjcp wrote:

LiT - with the Viners, do you have the option of speccing the wheels yourself? E.g. can you add handbuilts instead of factory builds?

I can have whatever the hell I want. This makes me happy

Why? A recommendation?

LiT - you got PM.

Ahhhh...!

So do you!

Interbike

Hello, just thought we would put you straight on a few things.
All our frames are made and sprayed in Belgium for us. No rebadging here! Our frames have been made for the last 60 years and the prices for frames start at £299 which includes a carbon fork.. this is not exactly 'expensive' and they seem to look quite 'pretty' and are of a good unique quality too.. the sales prove it. As for Eddy Merckx the frames took too long to be delivered so we parted company.. not that it matters anyway! And why would he have to design something, surely his experience with his cycling and products are enough .
(There are two questions that immediately come to mind.
1. Does he base his so-called opinion on 15 years + of daily riding? If not, ignore everything further he says.
2. After he'd won five Tours, the Vuelta, the Giro and almost all the classics, what piece of bike kit did he design? If nothing, ignore him even more. In fact, picket his shop.)

don_don

lost_in_thought wrote:

Which is why I'm liking the idea of the speedplays so much. Although man in shop (who, by the way, didn't look like he'd ever raced a bike in his life) maintained when I quizzed him on the speedplays that you still have to turn them in order to clip in. He recommended Looks as being better for that reason. At which point I became slightly cynical.

Speedplays (I nearly typed that as Speedpalsy :? ) are great. I love the security and easily adjustable float

Although I would recommend trying them first. They can be pretty hard to clip-in to, especially when brand new, since the tension of the metal 'spring' is pretty high. I am 13+ stone and still have to stamp quite hard on them sometimes. I find it easier to slightly flip the pedal into position to get the front of the cleat in first - maybe that's what the guy meant.

They do a version with a slightly lighter tension ('XS') IIRC. Those look good.

greg66_tri_v2.0

don_don wrote:

I am 13+ stone and still have to stamp quite hard on them sometimes.

:shock:

Doesn't the whole crank arm shear off, and become embedded in a freshly made hole in the ground?

Do you find it a problem having to avoid certain bridges?

lost_in_thought

With the lighter tension ones, my concern was that I'd pull my feet out of them - can you adjust the tension?

don_don

Greg66 wrote:

don_don wrote:

I am 13+ stone and still have to stamp quite hard on them sometimes.

:shock:

Doesn't the whole crank arm shear off, and become embedded in a freshly made hole in the ground?

Do you find it a problem having to avoid certain bridges?

About 8 stone of that is leg muscle...

Imagine a slightly older, better looking Chris Hoy and you are more or less there...

I sometimes rip waves into the tarmac when accelerating away from traffic lights, capsizing cars like so many little sailing dinghies

don_don

lost_in_thought wrote:

With the lighter tension ones, my concern was that I'd pull my feet out of them - can you adjust the tension?

The short answer is no, but you don't really need to.

You can adjust the cleat out to quite a wide angle (15 degrees I think), giving you plenty of float. The 'spring' is basically a curved metal horse-shoe in the cleat of the shoe, which snaps over grooves in the pedal body.

Once clipped in the whole thing is super secure, while allowing your foot to rotate freely within the limits of the float that you've set yourself.

Once you get to the 'unclipping point' its quite easy to snap out of the pedal, but there is no way on earth you will ever pull a foot out of them, even with your prodigious strength

il_principe

Shop bloke is talking out of his arse re Speedplay. You don't need to look down and they "find" the cleat with no bother.

I'm sure Crumpton and Parlee are lovely to ride and very very well made, but I don't like 'em, don't like the look, and would rather have a Euro frame made by a firm with some heritage! I know there is no logic in that but there you go.

Get the Viner Lit and glad Epic are letting you spec it, IMHO this is the mark of a decent LBS.

cjcp

jashburnham wrote:

a Euro frame

Are Pinarellos made in Europe or Taiwan?

roger_merriman

lost_in_thought wrote:

With the lighter tension ones, my concern was that I'd pull my feet out of them - can you adjust the tension?

when your all healed and MOT'd might be worth having a spin on a MTB with flats, pulling up that hard doesn't right. i'm a reasonbly large bloke, best part of 14stone and i've never pulled off the spd's which are set to the bare min.

chris hoy and other exceptions excepted. cycling is less a power sport than power to weight.

il_principe

cjcp wrote:

jashburnham wrote:

a Euro frame

Are Pinarellos made in Europe or Taiwan?

Not sure, don't really care. The research/design/testing etc is done in Italy. If Pinarello think Taiwan is the best place to get their Prince Frames built then I have no issue with that, I reckon Pinarello have been around long enough to know what they are doing, anyway all their carbon fibre is supplied by a Japanese firm so getting sniffy about the Far East would be a tad pointless!

cjcp

jashburnham wrote:

cjcp wrote:

jashburnham wrote:

a Euro frame

Are Pinarellos made in Europe or Taiwan?

Not sure, don't really care. The research/design/testing etc is done in Italy. If Pinarello think Taiwan is the best place to get their Prince Frames built then I have no issue with that, I reckon Pinarello have been around long enough to know what they are doing, anyway all their carbon fibre is supplied by a Japanese firm so getting sniffy about the Far East would be a tad pointless!

I ask because there's an interview with the head of the Merida factory in this month's C+ and I can't remember whether they make those. However, I used to have a Tifosi, and was told Merida make them. But my Tifosi had the exact same paint job as a mate's Pinarello, which is why I've always been curious.

lost_in_thought

Apparently the Viners are actually made in Italy, but I sincerely doubt that the carbon fibre comes from there.

cjcp

When are you buying the Viner?

lost_in_thought

Being fitted and ordering next weekend.

Also getting some bargainous second-hand wheels on Monday.......

cjcp

Excellent. 8)

il_principe

lost_in_thought wrote:

Being fitted and ordering next weekend.

Also getting some bargainous second-hand wheels on Monday.......

How very exciting.

What wheels have you gone for?